Lionel F40PH

I received my powered and un-powered units from Ro today.

For the most part a nice looking locomotive. 

There were a couple of issues. The first was the number board of the 200 unit. The number board fell off during shipping. I snapped it back in place only to have it fall out. I the used a bit of CA and solved that problem. 

The battery box was loose on the 200 unit, but that was a very easy fix. 

Two of the air hoses fell off during shipping, those will be fixed at a later date. 

Lastly there were some rub marks on the shell such as this where the paint is worn through.

No big deal and easily fixed with a Sharpie. 

Just some annoying issues, nothing major. 

My units ran rough out of the box. I found that the rear truck hits the fuel tank and the front truck hits the cab steps. Thus, the truck side-frames need to be removed from both the front and rear bogies before twisting the truck off. I found the worm box to be completely dry and needed lubrication. Once that was accomplished the unit ran much smoother.   The self-centering pilot is an excellent touch.  Also, speaking of the self-centering pilot there are no problems with any rolling stock going around 048 curves. Rolling stock with both fixed and articulated couplers worked just fine going around 048 curves, and the coupled units also navigated 048 curves without any problems.  

Cosmetically the F40PH's are very well done. The paint for the most part is very crisp and the level of detail is good. However, these units lack substance. They are very light weight. The F40PH is much lighter in weight than my legacy GP30, GP35 and GP7. 

Here is a comparison picture of the bogies of the F40PH and the 2343 F3.

The trucks and truck side-frames on the F40PH are very thin casts compared to the 2343. Saving those pennies by making the casting so thin. It is these very thin castings that make the unit so light. 

Here is the weight of the F40PH

Under 4 pounds!

Compare this to 2343 which is just about 5 pounds (I have the E-unit and horn out and TMCC electronics in).

And even recent Legacy production GP35 is nearly a half pound heavier and that half pound is very noticeable.

So again, a nice locomotive. Nicely detailed and for me came out of the box with just minor shipping damage that was easily fixed. The F40PH's run well and have excellent sounding horn and engine sounds. I do not quite get the "pair" switch as the powered and un-powered units are required to have their own unique address and then a multiple unit programmed using each unit's address, and address them as a train. However, I have my units programmed as to the instructions that "pair" feature works fine.

My only gripe (and it is a disappointment for me) is the lack of heft of the units. While I did not expect them to be 2343's, I certainly expected something with more oomph. The very light weight of the units, which goes in hand with the very thin metal of the castings, just gives a feeling to me of un-satisfaction. Also, when I pick them up the plastic creaks which does not help that feeling. 

So, my take is this. Cosmetically very nice units. They look the part. The sound system is excellent. After lubrication the units ran well. Battery cover was not an issue for me. But these are just don't have the heft; they are simply too light and have too thin of castings.  

Nice review, I await my #364 and Cabbage unit back from Lionel and I hope I can post a similar review.

One feature that is quite neat but neglected to mention is the control stand in the cab. The control stand dials light up and has details like control throttles. I thought that this feature at first hearing about it would be useless. However, the control stand dials are quite visible to me as the locomotive moves around the track. The control stand is actually quite a neat feature.  

I liked that in the Vision Line Genset, and I was happy to see that in these as well.

gunrunnerjohn posted:

Nice review, I await my #364 and Cabbage unit back from Lionel and I hope I can post a similar review.

It is almost a certainty that you will get an all new unit. There is so much wrong with the locomotive that you received that the labor costs to fix are well in excess of just shipping a new unit. 

The flawed locomotive will be cannibalized for parts. 

I hope the "all new units" don't come with a new set of "all new problems".

I am sorry to have to join this discussion. My 364 has been running great. See yesterday's "Weekend at the Movies." Then, while doing some early Sunday morning running before the grandkids get here for an Easter Egg hunt,  it stopped short. And, the short light shows on the TMCC lockon. Remove locomotive from rails,  no short. A careful inspection of the trucks and pick-up rollers shows nothing amiss that I can see. Put locomotive back on rails: short. Looks like I call Lionel tomorrow morning to get an RO.    

Here is the video I made about my F40, when I got it in early April.

"I found the worm box to be completely dry and needed lubrication."

these things definitely need some lubrication.  Anyway you could show us what you greased or oiled to clear this up

These units have the twist-off trucks, but I believe you have to remove the sideframes to twist them off.  Then you can readily access the gear to grease it.  Be careful of the connector on top of the truck, they're easily damaged.

thank you.

The F40PH continues to do its job. 

Another item of interest is the ball joint at the end of the motor shaft which couples in to the socket that drives the worm gear is made of solid brass. For a little while Lionel was making them out of plastic, but looks like they are back to metal. 

Well, as an addendum to the F40PH story, I watched one develop the short circuit live tonight.  A club member brought one over to one of the other member's house for a club meeting and was showing it off.  I fixed his tight hatch and then he plopped it on the track.   It ran for around 15 minutes, then the right number board started flickering.  We didn't tumble to it right away, but that was a clue that it was drawing excessive current.  It stopped short and the Z4000 channel shut down.  When we started to advance the throttle, the current was shooting up, so it was obvious that it was shorted.  It also had that pungent burning electronics smell.

To recap, this is the third one I've seen with the same right hand number board being an issue, and two of them shorted out on the track and died.  Mine didn't get a chance as I spotted the other issues and had already boxed it up to send it off.

I'm wondering if something in that lighting circuit is what is actually shorting out?  Food for thought...

Sad story.   One of my CSX units has a flickering board.   I'm not excited.   

I have an hour of operation on Friday and an hour and a half on each Saturday and Sunday. Fingers crossed. 

Are the observed failures in Phase III production? 

All the ones I have seen failures in have been Amtrak Phase III.  Last night's failure was spontaneous, it was running fine 10-15 minutes, then I noticed the right number board was flickering as it ran.  Within a few minutes, it came around and the short developed and the transformer tripped.  After that, just starting to crack the transformer handle resulted in the current shooting up, and obvious short.  The smell of burnt electronics was unmistakable.

Since the number boards appear to be track powered, I'm wondering if there's an issue with the PCB or wiring to the number boards...

First issue came up last night.  While the units were running around the track I began to hear an intermittent buzzing sound. It turned out that the wheels were rubbing the wires to the coupler and wore through the coating. 

Looks like you caught it in time.  I wonder if all of these were assembled on Monday morning?

FWIW, another local guy that picked up one of the Phase III ones from Hennings had the same flameout, shorted out and smoked, going back.  Lionel had better reserve a separate receiving dock for the returns!

WBC posted:

First issue came up last night.  While the units were running around the track I began to hear an intermittent buzzing sound. It turned out that the wheels were rubbing the wires to the coupler and wore through the coating. 

i havent had a chance to ship mine out yet but i will definitely check for this. that would explain the shower of sparks i saw before it went up in smoke

You guys are scaring me. I have yet to have any of these issues with my k line units. But when I get my phII from Charles Ro Next week, I am checking everything!

gunrunnerjohn posted:

I wonder if all of these were assembled on Monday morning?

That or Friday afternoon 10 minutes before closing time. 

Well, got home this afternoon and put it onto the track. Breaker on the transformer popped immediately. It was running fine when I shut down last night. 

Edit - Update 

It turns out that the short was caused by a loose wire. 

With a little bit of solder, some extra wire to take up the slack, and heat shrink tubing the F40PH was up and running again as if nothing ever happened. I actually moved the solder lug to the front part of the truck where it was less crowded. There is a channel cast into the truck to guide the wire. Picture also shows the hefty brass ball socket joint on the end of the motor shaft. I suspect that will not fail. 

Lucky break.